We have many faculty trying out Measure (aka Moodle) for their courses this spring. We also have a good number of faculty trying out Sakai and Blackboard. Thanks to all of you for helping us.

If you are not participating in the pilot study but would like to try out Moodle, you can contact Alex Chapin (achapin@middlebury.edu) and he will set up a test site for you and help you get started. Alternatively, you can try it out at demo instances of Moodle, see:http://demo.moodle.net

This workshop will give an overview of Moodle and then provide hands-on training in using Moodle to create course sites. LMS pilot participants who have agreed to try out Moodle are encouraged to attend.

The LIS Curricular Technology CT) team will be conducting pilot studies of a number of learning management systems (LMS) to determine which to implement at Middlebury as an alternative to Segue for at least some course sites. Measure is one of the LMS that will be piloting.

Based on focus groups and surveys of faculty at Middlebury and in affiliated programs, The CT team has identified some features of Measure that may be particularly useful including:

These are features that provide functionality that is not well-supported at Middlebury in the current technology solutions offered. If you would be interested in participating in a pilot of Measure, contact Alex Chapin (achapin@middlebury.edu) for more information.

Web 2.0 is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004. It refers to a perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O’Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences, and since 2004 some members of certain technical and marketing communities have adopted and loosely adapted the phrase. Others, notably Tim Berners-Lee, see the term as a needless and poorly-defined buzzword.

A version of the ShadowBox theme was created for Moodle and is now used in Measure, an instance of Moodle customized for use at Middlebury College. This is part of an effort to create a more unified UX across those platforms used for teaching, learning and research

Measure is an instance of Moodle configured specifically for creating online assessments of learning. Measure can be used for formative (i.e. quizzes) and summative assessments (i.e. examinations).

Measure is used extensively by the summer Language Schools for placement, entrance and exit exams. Measure is also used by a number of academic year departments for placing new students into particular programs of study.